Eating GMOs is an unsafe bet

Friday

Aug 31, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 31, 2012 at 12:05 PM

Ken Midkiff

When ingesting food that has been genetically modified, you are gambling with your health.

The ill effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) — including corn, soybeans, tomatoes and, yes, even potatoes — are well documented but ignored by the powers that be. In the case of GMOs, the Food and Drug Administration has ruled that food that has been genetically altered is no different from "regular" food.

Not so, says Jeffrey Smith, author of "Genetic Roulette — the Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods" (Yes! Books, 2007). In case after case — from the United States to the United Kingdom, India and Russia — it has been well documented that GMOs are harmful to health. There are those individuals who apparently can eat darned near anything with no bad results, just as there are those who don't get the flu or who don't suffer from copious ingestion of E. coli.

But there is no way of knowing who is and who isn't immune from the ill effects of eating GMO foods. That's why consumption of genetically altered foods is such a gamble. Illnesses, sometimes fatal, occur only after eating altered products.

Vegetarians do not escape. Most products made from soybeans contain GMO soybeans. Even peanuts, used to make peanut butter, are suspect. The only way of protection against consumption of GMOs is to acquire items that have wording "Does Not Contain GMO Products."

But there is no federal requirement that GMO or non-GMO foods be labeled as such. Although some companies voluntarily label foods, practically all these companies are ones that tout non-use of GMOs. Companies whose products contain GMOs don't usually label them as such.

Remember that, thanks primarily to Monsanto and its questionable research studies, the FDA does not consider genetically modified organisms to be any different than organisms not so modified and, consequently, does not require any labeling pertaining to products that have been genetically altered.

It is difficult, but not impossible, to obtain soybean seeds that have not been altered to be resistant to glycosphate (as Roundup is). A farmer friend of mine who is absolutely opposed to GMOs searched far and wide for non-GMO soybean seeds. He finally was successful, but it was not easy. However, a few years from now that might not be so, as GMO soybeans, cotton and other products are increasingly genetically altered. Since no records are kept on the health problems caused by GMOs, no one knows the harmful health impacts caused by such products.

Robert Mann, a biochemist from the University of Auckland, in New Zealand, said it best (quoted on Page 120 in Smith's book): "Biology is much more complex than technology." It is relatively simple, from a technological view, to insert a gene from one organism into another. However, the biological impacts of that technology might be tremendous.

To add insult to injury, the FDA allows entities that "create" new species — such as implanting a plant gene into a fish — to patent such species. In short, Monsanto is allowed to obtain a patent of "Roundup Ready" soybeans or rapeseed.

Not only that, but people who grow crops that contain patented material may be sued, even in the case of wind drift. Such is the case with Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who grew rapeseed plants that were contaminated, he claims, by an adjoining field of GMO rapeseed. You might know rapeseed oil as canola, as rapeseed oil is not usually sold under that somewhat politically unacceptable name.

That bears repeating: Manufacturing companies — such as Monsanto — are allowed to acquire patents on GMO species, even though the FDA views those GMO species as no different from non-GMO species. In short, companies may not only tinker with life itself but can get such altered life patented.

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